A Verdict of Murder

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The Incan mummy.CreditAndreas Nerlich

By The New York Times

March 3, 2014

Scientists who have examined the mummy of a young Inca say that her death was most likely a homicide and that it was not because of Chagas disease, the tropical parasitic infection that she had. The 20- to 25-year-old Inca, who lived three to five centuries ago, had massive skull trauma and severe face and frontal skull destruction, the researchers report in PLOS One. They used DNA, tissue and isotope analysis and a full body CT scan to study the mummy.